Busing around Northern Europe – is it for you?

It’s amazing what you can discuss with total strangers.

You may find yourself in a chat about the softness quotient of different countries' toilet tissue during dinner. Or you may end up listening (sympathetically?) to the medical history of your seat mate on the bus gliding you through central Norway. You may also develop lasting friendships with like-minded people who have a passion for travel.

We're talking here about guided tours, where the journey is very much part of the experience. Whatever you call them -- Guided Tours, Group Tours or Coach Tours -- they aren’t everyone’s cup of tea.

I had always thought a group tour would be full of grumpy seniors, more content to peer out bus windows than to experience the destinations visited. I soon found out that a guided trip comprises people of all ages and activity levels – and people are rarely grumpy!

My first experience was an assignment when I was teamed up for part of a 14-day trip with a 28-person group tour (age 50+) travelling throughout Scandinavia. I was the only travel writer invited on the trip and met the group after they had already spent a couple of days in Copenhagen.

My two stops with these vacationers would be Oslo and Stockholm. The majority of them continued on to Helsinki (with an optional day trip to Tallin) and St. Petersburg. Except for two Canadians, all the others in the group were American from various states. Many were in couples; there were three solo females and duos of friends travelling together. It all added up to a great cross section of ages and relationships.

I remember Jim and his nephew, Joe, both from Boston: devout Roman Catholics who normally only travelled on religious pilgrimages. Then there was Alice, a recent widow from Florida, who complained chronically about every aspect of the trip. It appeared that when her husband was alive, they participated in many group trips around the world, and she compared all her experiences with this one. The charming duo of the trip had to be Helen and Ed from Saskatchewan…they were so well travelled and knowledgeable about world history that all conversations with them were a treat.

Keep in mind that every tour company offering guided, group trips is different, with varying price structures, itineraries and personalities of their tour directors or co-ordinators. Some tour companies give their customers helpful reading lists of books regarding the countries you're about to visit; a vinyl shoulder bag and separate passport holder; a reminder checklist of what to take with you and several pages discussing the itinerary you've chosen and descriptions of your accommodations, with contact phone numbers.

If you're also travelling by ferry, as we did in Scandinavia, you're told what the ship is like, the cabin accommodation, and, of course, what meals are included in your price. With this amount of information tucked under your belt before you go, hopefully there won't be many surprises along the way.

The group tour director is vitally important to the success of the trip. Before you leave, ask who your tour director might be...is he or she a native of the geographical region to which you're going?

The best tour guides are those with strong maternal or paternal instincts – the ones who can instinctively find a “WC” (toilet) for you on a moment’s notice! These are the guides who break as many silly rules in the book just so that you can see some art treasure buried in a museum’s vault – or cajole a folk dance ensemble to perform just “one more” routine.

Sometimes the benefits of travelling with a group of people can be obvious.

Those who sign up for that itinerary all have a definite interest in the same destinations as those you have chosen.

There is peace of mind in travelling with others to places you have not previously visited, especially if you are single, and/or have a physical disability, and/or simply prefer other people's company when on the road.

All the details should be looked after with the precision of a Swiss watch: airport and luggage transfers, most meals (breakfasts and several dinners are usually included in your price), city tours with local guides who are articulate and informed, and admissions to museums and art galleries, where specified.

And who should probably not consider taking a group tour? Anyone who has never been comfortable following a crowd, or group, or who hates being given a limited amount of time at a museum or gallery.

If you’re the kind of person who would be late for his or her own his funeral, you might not enjoy the early mornings and the attention to time schedules usually found on a group tour.

(You could also incur the sometimes verbal wrath of the rest of the group. Remember that many who join group trips are clock-watchers and expect value for their money. A good group tour will be on time as much as possible, and surprise expenses are kept at a minimum.)

Anyone who assumes that group tours are comprised of people who penny-pinch or who are inexperienced travellers would be amazed to find the opposite is usually true.

Some people will not be happy with the frequent cursory information given at a particular destination. (Because a minimum amount of time may be spent at a famous park or museum, one mustn’t expect a complete verbal history of the place. That’s the job of you and your previously purchased guidebook!)

Besides the necessity of having a fun and patient tour director, we all have to be concerned with how we're going to catch a few hours of good sleep every night while we're zipping through foreign countries. I once went on a press trip with other journalists to several colonial cities in Mexico, where we changed hotels every night of the week. By the seventh day, I didn't know Guadalajara from Puebla or San Miguel, and had the bloodshot eyes to prove it.

Did I enjoy a group trip? Sure! Many of the people on my tour were sincerely interested in the sites and sounds of the various cities we visited, asking a multitude of questions, charging their phones at every opportunity to take photos and videos, and heartily digging into the sumptuous northern European buffets.

Bruce Bishop is a writer and author based in Halifax, Nova Scotia. His debut family saga novel, Unconventional Daughters, is set in Sweden and Nova Scotia in the early 20^th century. For more information, go to getbook.at/unconventional or https://www.brucebishopauthor.com